Daily News - Tuesday 8 October 2013

Labor leadership candidate Bill Shorten has added a new element to his campaign, with a promise to develop a national rehabilitation scheme to move people from the disability support pension into the workforce.

For people with intellectual disability there is still a long way to go to be truly included in our community. People with intellectual disabilities have specific human rights goals. More than physical access, these Australians seek work opportunities, independent living (as opposed to institutionalisation) self-advocacy, and inclusive communities where they can contribute as equal partners, in order to directly address and reduce their persistent disadvantage.

This week is National Mental Health Week, straddling World Mental Health Day on Thursday - a sensible time to look at the NDIS and psychosocial disability and the challenges to make it work for those most affected. The NDIS represents a philosophical change in the way services are delivered, placing resources into the hands of individuals living with disabilities and allowing them to choose the services that work for them.

Given the likelihood that people living with mental illness are reliant on disability support pensions or other forms of Centrelink payments, or are on low incomes, social housing is the most likely option for stable, safe accommodation. For people with mental illness, legal issues associated with obtaining and sustaining tenancies with social and community housing providers is one of the more commonly identified areas of legal need.

Paid parental leave is a second-order issue for most parents. The real challenge is accessing affordable, convenient, flexible and quality childcare, including when children get to school. This is where the government should be directing its efforts.

Rather than award employees bonuses, either as individuals or in teams, employers who give money to their workers to spend on charities or on their colleagues get better results, the researchers reported this week in the journal PLOS One.

As one of a small army of volunteers across Australia who receive no payment for the countless hours of our time spent helping others, it makes me so angry that politicians use the public purse to attend private functions and think that it's OK (''Expenses scandal spreads'', October 7).

Christine Milne’s recent efforts to chase the farming vote appeared to deliver little, if any, electoral dividend. To the extent that the energy expended may have come at the expense of focus on its more reliable supporter base, the efforts may even have been counterproductive.

Nationals are the forgotten party. After a successful federal election they are nestled in a comfortable governing relationship as the junior partner of the Liberals. They can laugh at all those critics who for so long have predicted their demise. But they are out of sight.

Pope Francis’s message today was perhaps the most uncomfortable challenge for Catholics so far. Having spent three days in the Vatican’s corridors of power with his Council of Cardinals reflecting on how best to rebuild Christ’s Church, his first stop in Assisi was not the Archbishop’s residence or the obvious option of St Francis’s tomb. Top of the agenda was to visit the severely disabled children of Assisi.

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Catholic Social Services Australia represents a national network of 52 Catholic social service organisations that provide direct support to hundreds of thousands of people in need each year on behalf of the Catholic Church. Our agencies provide a diverse range of support from assisting women and children escaping family violence, housing and homelessness support, to mental health and disability services. They also work in partnership with Indigenous people, and offer support and services to people seeking asylum and those who are refugees.